A Letter from Bishop Chris (March 2023A)
Friends,
I recently read about a mother whose young son was extremely challenging. He was hyperactive with an attention deficit disorder. He regularly had explosive reactions. She tried everything to change him including discipline, therapy, and medication. It didn’t seem to help.
Finally one day, in utter desperation during the mayhem of one of his eruptions, she grabbed him and held him tightly in a loving embrace. She sang quietly to him and softly spoke words of comfort and tenderness. She stroked his hair, pressing his head to her chest, rocking him, and praying gently over him. He thrashed, twisted, and squirmed. Eventually he quieted down and rested in his mother’s arms.
Now, whenever he has an outburst, this is what she does. She holds him until she quiets him. And this is what she said: “I do it long enough for him to remember who he is.”
That’s a perfect definition of Sabbath: God holding you long enough for you to remember who you are.
In Genesis 2:1-3 we read, “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the hosts of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”
God doesn’t need to rest but we do. In fact, all living things need rest. So God, in kindness, created what we need and offered it to us as a gift. Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man…” (Mark 2:27a). And yet, as author Mark Buchanan states, “Sabbath is the gift we refuse.” In the Sabbath, God modeled for us what it is to stop; to declare, “It’s enough.” And in his stopping and resting he invites you and me to do the same with him.
Do you take a Sabbath? Do you take one day in seven to rest and cease from your labor? Sabbath-keeping is not about keeping the Law (the 4th Commandment) as a means of finding your righteousness before God. Rather, Sabbath-keeping is about recognizing your dependence on God. It’s about receiving God’s invitation to stop striving, to stop controlling everything, and to stop trying to be God.
In Sabbath, we remember and celebrate the Lord and what God alone can do. We remember God’s deliverance of His people from slavery and bondage. Only He can set us free from sin, addiction, and brokenness. We celebrate Jesus’s triumph over death through his cross and resurrection. Ultimately only God can give us fullness of life.
As I start my ministry as your bishop, I want to communicate to you that I will do everything in my power to take Sabbath. It’s that important for both the longevity of my body and for my soul’s health. I won’t love God or you well if I don’t live as a created being.
For me, at least for now, Sabbath will begin Thursday evening and conclude Friday evening. I ask you to honor this and help me preserve the gift God offers me. What that means is that I won’t be doing email, returning texts, or doing office tasks on Fridays. On the occasional Friday when necessity dictates that I have to work, I will seek to take the immediate Thursday or following Monday off. On Fridays, if you have a real emergency, please call me. If you’re not sure whether it’s a real emergency, please call Lynn Milograno at the diocesan office and she’ll help you decide.
I’m thrilled to be your bishop and I’m excited to see how God will work in and through us in the years to come! I hope you join me in accepting the gift that God offers each one of us in the Sabbath.
Blessings,
The Rt. Rev. Chris Warner